Are you staying in IB for the rest of your career?
Do y’all actually enjoy this or are you planning on switching paths later on in life? If so, what would you want to do?
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I've been working for just 3 months as an associate and I've seen enough. No way. It just doesn't get better. Even EDs are grinding.
As it's been said ad nauseam, it's not the long hours but the unpredictability and lack of control of your time that makes this so unbearable. And everything being asap and urgent.
Also a lot of the job in coverage or M&A is pretty boring, very administrative and little financial analyses apart from a few instances with more complex transactions. It's just taking notes, moving logos, formatting, responding to a ton of emails asap, and trying to make sense of your clients financials
What do you plan to switch to? And how long will you stay in your role before making the pivot?
Also came in as an associate a few months ago… going to stick it out until VP or director then dip to corporate. Looking to work my way into the c-suite long-term, want to make sure I come in at a high enough level so I’m not stuck underneath a bunch of morons.
Will look into PE after a few years, but 1) it seems difficult to make that transition as an associate and 2) PE seems like the same shit at the end of the day.
Seconding what’s already been mentioned- my biggest pet peeve with IB is not the hours, but the fact that everything is classified “ASAP/urgent,” when 99% of the time it doesn’t need to be. The times I’ve already spent until 3 am working on a deck for the MD that he either doesn’t review until the last day or goes through a bunch of pointless iterations is insane.
This grinds my gear so much. Night before a Pitch and need to price update a deck. Get it. Director wants a deck a week in advance and request that you burn your weekend. Not a happy camper.
As others have mentioned, hours in IB aren't really that bad (at least for me). It's nature of the work and the fact that you're basically a slave to your superior until director-level. People say analysts are Excel / PPT monkeys - that doesn't stop until director. Seeing VPs grind on CIMs or going through ER reports to find peak sales figures until 2AM for a pointless MD request is enough to turn me off on the industry.
Look at how VPs are treated in PE by their bosses vs. IB. Significantly different dynamic with much more respect and responsibility.
I've seen people on here equate or even be overzealous by saying IB is better than PE. Key word: idiots. At least in PE, the potential rewards are commensurate with the effort through carried interest, being on boards, having direct investing experience, etc. IB is full of exhausted people who have sacrificed their entire lives in pursuit of rewards that are not commensurate with the effort. Sacrificing you family and friends, little things in life, and so on for IB isnt worth it. Think of the exhausted MDs who chew you out and micromanage you over fonts, specific colors in pitch books, etc. Do you think they really enjoy it? While PE could have more hours, at least it's much more lucrative. You are owned in IB, not even close to being the owner
I don't think I've ever met a person who said they wanted to be in IB for the rest of their lives...
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